The Spaniard made good use of the strategy, making a superb start to climb into fourth place by the time the field had rounded the first corner.

Ahead of him, Red Bull's Mark Webber had passed Hamilton to take second as Vettel converted pole into a lead.

The German, though, was unable to pull his usual gap on his pursuers and Hamilton chased him throughout the first stint.

Vettel eked out a three-second lead by the time of their only pit stops, but after that Hamilton closed in again.

Previous winners of US GP

2007 -
Lewis Hamilton - McLaren

2006
- Michael Schumacher - Ferrari

2005
- Michael Schumacher - Ferrari

2004
- Michael Schumacher - Ferrari

2003
- Michael Schumacher - Ferrari

2002
- Rubens Barrichello - Ferrari

The Briton spent several laps within a second of Vettel but not quite close enough to pass before taking advantage of the leader being held up by an HRT to pass him down the straight into Turn 12 on lap 42.

Vettel stayed within two seconds of the McLaren right until the end of the race, but was never close enough to attempt a pass.

"I wasn't too happy to send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I had to go through [Narain] Karthikeyan [of HRT]," said Vettel.

"[Lewis] was right behind in the DRS zone. He took that opportunity, fair enough, down the straight and he passed me. I tried to defend but I knew he would have so much more speed. I was obviously not too happy.

"Lewis had one chance and he took it. After that I tried to stay with him but there wasn't much between us."

Hamilton said: "Traffic usually catches me [rather than my opponents] out so I was glad it worked slightly in my favour."

Alonso was promoted to third place when Webber retired with an alternator failure on lap 17.

The Spaniard looked like he might face a challenge from Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, but a slow pit stop meant the Finn rejoined just behind the Ferrari, which then pulled away.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

US Grand Prix - top three drivers

"We know that our championship [hopes stay] alive maybe thanks to the first laps," said Alonso.

"We are always qualifying around seventh or eighth and we finish the first lap in first three or four positions, and after that the race becomes easier.

"Today we knew there was a good chance [to] try to overtake people in the first corner. If we are in the leading group we can always keep the pace. Today was not possible to keep the pace with these two guys. This podium is like a victory for us."

Raikkonen, much slower on the 'hard' tyres the leaders had to use in the second stint, dropped back and slipped behind Massa and McLaren's Jenson Button to finish sixth ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean.

Button drove a strong race to climb up from 12th on the grid, using a reverse strategy from the leaders.

He started on the 'hard' tyre and ran a long first stint, by the end of which he was up to third place.

His stop on lap 36 dropped him back behind Grosjean, but he managed to pass both Lotus cars before the end as Massa never let him get closer than five seconds.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth, holding off Pastor Maldonado, who won a private battle with Williams team-mate Bruno Senna to take ninth ahead of the Brazilian.

BBC links

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.